Vigan

The trip was gruelling - me and my family rode the Partas bus for 8 hours, from Cubao to Vigan, Ilocos Sur. We reached the old town about mid-morning, and we checked in Vigan Plaza Hotel - an old building located right next to Plaza Burgos and the famed street lined with Spanish-era buildings. The hotel is expensive, almost 5000 pesos for the ancestral suite, but has a quaint old-world feel to it, and the amenities are tops. 

The cobblestoned Crisologo Street just next to the hotel is replete with old Spanish-era houses - accented with capiz shell-shutters and ornate carvings - and some of which were converted into shops selling religious icons and antiques. This section of the town is also a UNICEF World Heritage Site. 

We hired a calesa (a horse-drawn carriage) to take us around the town. We were whisked to several museums (Sy-Quia, Crisologo, Burgos and the old house of President Elpidio Quirino), two old churches (one  is St. Paul's, a fine example of earthquake baroque architecture) and to Punta Baluarte, the residence of a local official  that has its own zoo. 

Since it was only an overnight trip (we planned to go to Pagudpud, but decided to go to Baguio the next day instead), we tried to see most of the sights in one day. We dropped by some of the turo-turo along the way to sample the local cuisine, and went to a pottery as well.

Pics, from top: cobblestone street with Spanish-era buildings, a calesa, a tiger in Punta Baluarte, jars in a pottery.

(note: I went to Vigan last December 13 with my family, but I wasn't able to write a travelogue for the trip. Here it is...)